Tobacco curing apparatus



Feb. 6, 1951 M, T, BRn-T 2,540,929

TOBACCO CURING APPARATUS Filed 0G12. 17, 1947 Inventor:

/V a-Sum 7." Britt Patented Fiel). 6, 195i UNITED `STATIIS i PATENT OFFICE TOBACCO CURING APPARATUS Mangum T. Britt, Clinton, N. C..

Application October 17, 1947, Serial No. 780,398

may be directed to a desired location within the barn.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a, novel heat distributing device confstructed in such a manner as to distribute heat evenly.

7 claims. (o1. 1 26-7-93) The above and numerous other objects of the t invention will become apparent from the succeeding description considered together with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a heat dis- .a

tributing device embodying the present invention. Figure 2 is a plan view of the heating device shown in Figure 1 but with a part thereof removed to more clearly illustrate the invention.

Figure 3 is a partial elevational and partial l sectional view of component parts of the heating device shown in Figure 1.

YUFigure 4 is a plan view taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.`

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the lines 5-5 of Figure 1, looking in the direction @of the arrows. l

', lFigure 6 is a schematic view of a tobacco curing barn having a plurality of heating devices of the present invention associated therewith.

l Referring now in detail to the drawing, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts, the numeral I is employed to designate, in a somewhat general manner, a heating device or apparatus exemplary of the present invention. In the process of curing tobacco it is necessary upon picking leaves or hands of tobacco to hang them from rafters conveniently spacedin a tobacco curing barn 2. The barn is usually provided with yIfioors or openings 3 for'properly Ventilating the Vinterior of the barn to prevent the accumlation of excess moisture laden air within the barn and for other reasons quite apparent to those skilled 'in this particular art.' As illustrated in Figure 6 'ofthe drawing, it is at the present writing believed essential to space a plurality of heating devices in a somewhat uniform arrangement so that heat 'emanating from the devices may be equally dis tributed throughout the barn area. While I have illustrated four novel heating devices in the a1'- rangement of Figure 6 of the drawing it will be clearly. understood that the number and arrangement of heating devices will, of course, depend entirely upon the size of barn since there appears no standard size, shape or configuration of tobacco curing barns.

The heating devices herein employed are of the oil burning or consuming type for the purpose of economy as Well as safety and as a source .of supply there is provided a fuel tank 4 disposed 4 outside the barn and usually at a suicient elevation to permit the fuel to be fed to the heating devices through a leveling valve or carburetor. From the fuel tank there extends a main feed `line 5 which travels on or underneath the ground to the interior of the barn where, branching therefrom, are branch fuel feed lines 6 leading to the surface of the ground adjacent the conveniently or desirably spaced heating devices I previously mentioned and considered hereinafter in minute detail.

Forming a support or base for the heating device is a fuel supply line 'I which may be formed .preferably of galvanized iron or copper tubing.

However, the material employed is of no present moment as a wide range of materials arecom-I- mercially available from which a suitable or adequate choice may be made. The only factor of present importance is that the fuel supply line 1be of suchcharacter or nature as to permit an adequate flow of fuel therethrough. The fuel supply line is desirably and preferably so formed as to presenta rectangular or cornered design so that it may form an adequate base upon which other related components `may be mounted. Also this rectangular or angular conguration of the fuel supply line lends stability to the heating device. The base forming supply line is, more speccically, formed with four legs 8, 9, IIJ and I I 1with the leg 8 being connected to the fuel feed line and -theterminal leg I I being capped with a plug I2. The legs 9 and II and the legs 8 and I 0 are opposed to one another in parallel relation.

In order to rigidify the supply line against stresses to which it might be placed in service `a gusset bar I2a extends diagonally adjacent the free ends of thesupply line. The gusset bar I2a extends from adjacent a free end of the leg II to adjacent a Afree end of the leg 8 and is Welded or otherwise vsecured to both legs to form. a rigid part thereof.

Mounted in series on the fuel supply line is a clusterof Aheating elements I3 which are of the oil consumingtype and in fuel communicaf elements mounted on said line and arranged t0 draw fuel from said line, a bar removably secured to said line and removably secured thereto at a plurality of positions, a standard upstanding from said bar adjacent a center of said cluster, and a hood mounted upon said standard; said hood comprising two cone-shaped sheets spaced from one another.

6. In a tobacco curing device, the combination of, a fuel supply line of angular configuration, a cluster of substantially equally spaced heating elements mounted on said line and arranged to draw fuel from said line, a bar removably secured to said line and removably secured thereto at a plurality of positions, an adjustable standard upstanding from said bar, and a hood adjustably mounted upon said standard; said hood comprising a plurality of cone-shaped sheets held apart by spacer means.

7. In a tobacco curing device, the combination of, a fuel supply line of angular configuration, a cluster of substantially equally spaced heating elements mounted on said line and arranged to draw fuel from said line, a bar removably secured to said line and removably secured thereto at a plurality of positions, a vertically adjustable standard upstanding from said bar, and a hood mounted on said standard so as to blanket said cluster of heating elements; said hood being arranged to be tilted from one side to another and comprising a plurality of cone-shaped sheets spaced vertically from one another.

MANGUM T. BRI'I'I.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record inthe le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 89,181 Stoddard, et al Apr. 20, 1869 844,583 Dixon Feb. 19, 1907 844,632 Thompson Feb. 19, 1907 970,056 Hurley Sept. 13, 1910 1,465,043 Ivor Aug. 14, 1923 1,694,604 Ryan Dec. 11, 1928 1,699,032 Shuell et al Jan. 15, 1929 2,124,074 Mayo July 19, 1938 2,197,325 Spikes Apr. 16, 1940 2,280,458 Tharrington Apr. 21, 1942 2,299,340 Nelson Oct. 20, 1942 

